Discourses of Rumi

discourse 36All forms spring from Love, as branches springforth from their root. No branch can exist withoutits root. Therefore, God is not called a form,since form is the branch. How can God be calleda branch?Someone said: “Love too cannot be expressedor experienced without form. Hence it is thebranch of form.”Why cannot Love be a form without form? Onthe contrary, Love is the sculptor of form. A hundredthousand forms are raised up on Love’s potterywheel. Although a painter cannot exist withoutpaintings, still painting is the branch and thepainter is the root. As the finger moves, so movesthe ring.Until someone has love for a house, no architectwill draw up designs. In the same way, corn isat the price of gold one year, another year it is atthe price of dust. The form of the corn is thesame—therefore its value comes from love. The